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Home > News
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| Monday, December 29, 2008
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Contact: Debra Thompson
Director, RMH Corporate Communications
540-564-5886
In the last five years, RMH has diverted nearly 76,000 pounds of plastics from Virginia landfills through its participation in a statewide program aimed at reducing medical waste.
RMH is one of more than 50 Virginia healthcare facilities that, together, have kept over one million pounds of plastic waste from entering Virginia landfills since 2003. Through an effort of the Virginia Health Care Waste Management Cooperative, these facilities adopted reusable sharps containers in place of traditional containers for the disposal of medical supplies and waste.
According to Bernie Ferguson, director, Environmental Services at RMH, the reusable sharps containers are taken from the hospital to a treatment facility, where they are thoroughly cleaned, disinfected and inspected using numerous processes before re-entering the hospital.
“As a healthcare organization, RMH is eager to adopt environmentally-friendly, sustainable practices,” Ferguson said. “This program benefits our broader community by keeping waste out of landfills. As an added benefit, the switch to reusable containers provides cost savings for our organization. It’s a great program.”
The Virginia Health Care Waste Management Cooperative is an affiliate of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. The Cooperative provides quality medical waste management services to healthcare facilities while emphasizing waste reduction. Since RMH joined the Cooperative in 2006, the hospital has realized more than $121,000 in savings, Ferguson said.
Virginia hospitals and health systems are leading efforts to improve the environmental health of their communities by instituting pollution prevention and other “green” initiatives in their facilities. These efforts are supported by Virginia Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, a voluntary partnership developed by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to provide resources that help reduce the environmental impact of healthcare-generated waste.
“We are very pleased with the positive steps the healthcare industry has taken to reduce its effects on the environment,” said David K. Paylor, director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. “Our voluntary healthcare partnership has been beneficial for everyone involved, but more important, it helps protect Virginians and their environment.”
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